All right, in Jeremiah chapter
6. Now, you're aware that the prophets, the major prophets,
the minors as well, were constantly sent that they might rebuke and
chastise the people for their sin. Jeremiah does that again
and again. And what we have this morning
finds us in the midst of one of the great rebukes of the nation
of Israel for their sin. They come again and again, layer
after layer, as the prophet reminds them of their sin, rebukes them
in the name of God, calls them unto repentance, and yet we find
that they are hard-hearted and stiff-necked and will not hear. So our reading, our initial reading,
is verse 9 through verse 17 of Jeremiah, chapter 6, and we'll
be in a lot of other places too during the course of our study
today. But here we have our text, Jeremiah
chapter 6 and verse 9 through verse 17. Follow carefully. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
they shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine. Turn back thine hand as a grape
gatherer unto the baskets. To whom shall I speak and give
warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised,
they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord
is unto them a reproach, and they have no delight in it. Therefore, I am full of the fury
of the Lord. I am weary with holding in. I will pour it out upon the children
abroad and upon the assembly of young men together. For even
the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that
is full of days. Their houses shall be turned
unto others, with their fields and their wives together. For
I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land,
saith the Lord. For from the least of them, even
unto the greatest of them, every one of them is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto
the priest, every one deals falsely. They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had
committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed. Neither could they blush. Therefore
they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I will
visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old
paths where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall
find rest for your soul. But they said, we will not walk
therein. Also, I set a watchman over you,
saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said,
we will not hearken. Now I'd like to read verse 15
again, for today I'm preaching on the subject of sinning without
shame, or the subtitle might be The Unblushables. Look at verse 15 again. Were
they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not
at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore, they shall
fall among them that fall. At the time that I will visit
them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. So let's add,
if we might, some other texts of scripture. I do not ask you
necessarily to turn there, but describe the same kind of behavior
from the people of the world, not just the Jewish people or
nation, but the people of the world. And this will show us
that such is usually the norm among people of different nations
and different places and different cultures and different times.
And that such attitudes and behaviors, as we have read this morning,
keep before us a strong witness and testimony of the depravity
of the race. Here are some other verses. Isaiah
chapter 3 and verse 9, you might like to make note of. The show
of their countenance does witness against them, and they declare
their sin as Sodom. They hide it not, woe unto their
soul. Now, our first text said they
were not ashamed when they had committed abomination. No. They were not ashamed, and neither
could they blush over their activity and their way. Here again Jeremiah
chapter 3 and verse 3, what a charge! a whore's forehead, thou refuse
to be ashamed. Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 12 is
a repetition of chapter 6 and verse 15. Were they ashamed when
they had committed abomination? They were not ashamed, neither
could they blush. In Ezekiel chapter 2 and verse
4, they are impudent children and stiff-hearted. And listen
to Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 5. The unjust knoweth no shame. The unjust knoweth no shame. And one more. There is that verse
from the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 and verse 32. It says this. who knowing the
judgment of God, that they which do such things are worthy of
death, not only do the same, but they have pleasure in them
that do them." Now what an indictment is that? And we will give this
verse a further hearing later on in our study. In Ephesians
4 and verse 19, Paul talked about the Gentiles, the pagan Gentiles,
and he described them as being past feeling. They were past
feeling. We'll also look at that a bit
later in our text. But now let's make this point,
and that is that these texts from the Old Testament that we
read speak to and they speak of not the heathen, not the Gentile
people and the nations apart, and not pagan idolater, but to
those known as the chosen people, the chosen race, and the chosen
nation, to those Jews who frequently are called in the scripture the
children of Israel. Paul said of them in Romans chapter
9 verse 4 and verse 5, to whom belonged the adoption, the glory,
the covenant, the giving of the law, the service of God, the
promises, and even that Messiah after the flesh came out of the
nation of Israel. And furthermore, Romans 3 and
verse 2, unto them was committed the oracles of God. The sacred scriptures were inspired
and committed unto them. And yet notice this, all of these
high privileges did not make all of them good and righteous. It did not ensure that every
Israelite had a good heart or that they love the things of
God or love God. For one reason, as Paul said
in Romans 9 and verse 6, Not all are Israel which are of Israel. That is to say, every Jew was
not an elect, not a spiritual son of Abraham. In fact, most
of them were not. Even when they left Egypt, a
mixed multitude went along with them. We find that in Exodus
12, 38, mentioned again in Numbers chapter 11 and verse 4. It was the mixed multitude that
fell to lusting after those good things that they had eaten and
left behind in the land of Egypt. And it led many of the children
of Israel to crave meat to eat. That's mentioned again in Nehemiah
chapter 13 and verse 3. Furthermore, the scripture is
very clear. The Old Testament history of
the Jew was one of almost constant rebellion against God. They had the law, but they constantly
transgressed it and trampled it under their feet. They had
seen the glory of God appear among them, And yet, what did
they do? They turned and worshipped idol. They had the oracles of God,
the inspired word of God, but they cast it away for the tradition
and the opinion of men. Then, if we fast forward to Christ's
day and to Paul's day, they had a religious zeal, but it was
not according to knowledge. They were ignorant of God's righteousness,
went about to establish their own righteousness, therefore
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. You'll
find that in Romans chapter 10 and verse 3. But the thing to
which we give attention to now, from all that we have read, how
bold and open and callous they were in their sin, how impudent
and how insolent they were, not only against the prophet, but
also against God. Something smothering out any
conviction that might rise up in them, trapping the ordinances
of God under their feet, committing what God called spiritual adultery
or whoredom. And then, as if to add insult
unto their injury, they sinned these sins with impunity. They were not contrite. They
were not sorry. They were not filled with guilt.
They were not filled with remorse for what they had done. They
did not confess their sin and pray for forgiveness from the
hand of God Almighty, nor did they seek to hide or to cover
their sin either from God or from the prophet or from their
fellow man. We read in the scripture, Genesis
chapter 3, that even Adam and Eve were ashamed after they had
sinned and they hid themselves among the tree of the garden. Of course we grant that their
situation, their circumstances were different from those of
the people in the wilderness. But these things, or these charges,
if you will, or these indictments, are much broader than the people
of Israel, and they must not be confined to the Jews. But they are true of every race,
of every culture, upon the face of the earth, being more or less
prevalent in certain days and in certain time, depending on
the circumstances, whether God restrains them, or whether He
lays the reign upon their neck and lets them run. When God withholds
His restraint, it is as The old Puritan described of a wild Mustang
running at full speed along the main thoroughfare, Main Street,
at high noon, galloping along for all to see, head held high,
their hooves flying and their mane flowing, their eyes wild
and wide as they run along It revels us to those things
that were about them. Hear Isaiah 3 and verse 9 again,
if we might. The show of their countenance
does witness against them. They declare their sin as Solomon,
and they hide it not. Now what an indictment, especially
of those who would claim, if confronted, we are Abraham's
children. We are Abraham's seed. We have Abraham to be our father
as they claimed unto the Lord. It says the prophet, in the name
of God, their countenance is witness against them. What does
that mean? Their countenance, their look,
their outlook, their face, their looking is against them. Literally,
we would translate it, the look on their faces or their expression,
as we might see it. John Gill spoke of their impudent
looks. Others render it the shame of
their face. doth betray them. It's the same
word that is used in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 5 and 6 when
the countenance of Cain was fallen as God rejected his offering. True, the word has a rather broad
meaning as it appears in the scripture. It can mean anger,
it can mean fear, it can mean the face, the forefront, and
so forth. In the countenance can be seen
anger and sorrow, joy, trouble, pain, and such like. Fierceness
even, Daniel chapter 8 and verse 23. Trouble, Ezekiel 27 and 35.
Sadness, as in Ecclesiastes chapter 7
and verse 3. And on the words of Isaiah here
in this verse, the old-time writer Matthew Henry wrote, the show
of their countenance doth witness against them, quote, that their
minds are vain, lewd, and malicious," unquote, so that oftentimes the
look on their face actually resemble or is a reflection of the wickedness
that is in their heart. Notice it, and I think you can
agree. The prophet continues, however,
in his indictment against his fellows, for in Isaiah 3 and
verse 9, they declared their sin as did Sodom. They did not, not just in words,
But in their public behavior, chafing under any rebuke that
was brought against them, they drank iniquity like water, as
Job 15 and 16 describes them. They thirsted for iniquity like
a thirsty man does for water. They ran to the excess of their
sin without any modesty and without any shame, and they sought to
erase every distinction between right and wrong, embracing everything
wicked and ungodly and lewd, and not only that, but seeking
to force their way upon society and rejecting any criticism or
rebuke of their way. Thus the prophet said, as did
Sodom, so did Jerusalem and Judah. Like Sodom, they did not hide
their sin, but they gloried in them. We've already read from
the scripture that they had a whore's forehead, and neither did they
blush at their behavior, though ever so wicked. They made their
cup of iniquity to fill up and flow over the brim, and that
made them ripe for the judgment of God. There is an old adage,
I read it again, Matthew Henry, an adage or a proverb or a saying,
and it goes like this, that those that are past shame are past
grace and past hope. Jude verse 13, listen to what
the man said. He speaks of such as, quote,
foam out their shame. Foam out their shame. Now the
picture is clear in our mind. like the turbulent storm-tossed
water of the sea, as in Isaiah 57 and verse 20. The wicked are
like the troubled sea. When it cannot rest, it casts
up its mire and its dirt. Jude said, foaming out their
chain. Now the waters, when they are
calm and settled, appear to be clear and clean. So a sinner
might appear to be civil when conscience is strong, when they
are restrained in some way of God's doing, whether it be His
judgment or the preaching of the Word of God. But let conscience
ease its grip, and restraint be cast off, and like the disturbed
sea, they begin to foam out their shame, and their inner depravity
then breaks forth in all manner of shameful acts. for them and
all to see. And the amazing thing to gather
from this is, though their acts are shameful, yet they are not
ashamed. They do shameful things, but
they are not ashamed. Like that wild Mustang again,
they gallop along in the public gaze. What does Paul say of some
in Philippians 3 and 19, whose glory is their shame? He describes some who are enemies
of the gospel and of the cross, and the whole verse says, speaking
there of false teachers, they're enemies of the cross. whose end
is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory
is their shame. That is, what they see and claim
as their glory is really their shame and their degradation,
though they do not see it so or think it so. That which they
glory in is more to their shame and their disgrace than they
ever thought or imagined. Now, the false teachers' glory
in their shame and the deceitful handling of the Word of God,
their corrupting of the person, the doctrine, and the work of
Christ, and leading the people down the path unto destruction. who believe their lies and are
damned. But they will never see it as
shameful apart from the grace of God. Now the passage in Jeremiah
chapter 6 is another of the many passages of the destruction and
the judgment upon Israel and how they would be spoiled by
their enemies from without. Verse 9 said it, that they would
be stripped, using a metaphor, stripped like a grapevine. Judgment
lay at their door, and yet the prophet could not arouse them
to the danger around about them. Their ears, in verse 10, are
uncircumcised. They cannot hearken unto the
word of the Lord. The word of the Lord is actually
a reproach unto them, and they have no delight or joy in it. Sounds like our generation all
over again, does it not? Sounds like our generation as
we look out upon it. Not only that, the people. But
we find that the leaders are liars, and the sad thing is the
people love to have it so. Let's drop back to the end of
chapter 5, Jeremiah, verse 30 and verse 31, and listen. A wonderful and horrible thing
is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests bear rule by their means. Now, does that offend
the people and do they leave them and separate from them?
No. My people love to have it so. What will you do? in the end thereof. Leaders and people have become
corrupt together till it becomes the normal way. We find that
chapter 6 and verse 13 that we read a while ago. Furthermore,
in the 14th verse of our text, which pertains to the priest
and the lesser prophets than Jeremiah among them, who promised
the people peace, prosperity, and safety. This is what they
preached under them, peace, prosperity, and safety, even as the judgment
of God was about to fall upon them. They took away the fear
of God out before the eyes of the people. They took away the
fear of God from the people, preaching unto them peace, peace,
peace, when there was no peace. Now these are such as in our
day who preach the prosperity gospel. God wants you to have
the finest. God wants you to drive the best
car and to live in the best house. Most of the time we find that
such preachers have enriched themselves making merchandise
of the people, for they're given the covetousness and living an
affluent life making merchandise of the people, preaching happy,
snappy sermons as they come into the pulpit to make the people
comfortable but comfortable in their sin. Cheerleaders they
are. Rah, rah, rah. Hooray for Jesus. Give Jesus a big hand for that
and avoid being brought under any conviction and being found
fearing with the holiness of God their depravity. They're
drawn to preachers. that lift up their spirit, and
that speak smooth things and comforting things unto them,
and leave them comfortable in their sin when they go on their
way. Someone has written, those who
have no shame for sin are ripe for destruction. And when they
are not ashamed of their sin, they commit it openly. Consider
again a part. Jeremiah 3 and the seriousness
of the charge. Thou hast a whore's false head. You refuse to be ashamed. I looked at the NASB It has it
translated this way, yet you had a harlot's forehead, you
refused to be ashamed. In other words, like a brazen
hussy going to ply her trade, and you can see that well described
in Proverbs chapter 7, if you read there about the harlot,
perhaps painted and scantily dressed, Yet this is not the
end of it. She or they refuse to be ashamed. They display no shame. They sin
before and in the eyes and in the sight of God, and that without
shame. This is set forth in the scripture
the many times that it is mentioned that evil is done is done when
it is done in the sight of the Lord, before the eyes of almighty,
omniscient, all-seeing God. Sin is committed in the eyes
of the Lord. To know that God sees every sin. that he hears every word in the
tongue, that he knows even the thoughts of the mind is a very
powerful check. When one thinks about that, he
knows our thoughts are far off. As David said in Proverbs chapter
15 and verse 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding
the evil and the good. Proverbs 15 and verse 11, hell
and destruction are before the Lord. How much more the heart
of the children of men. Isaiah 29 and 15 issues this
warning. Woe unto them that seek thee
to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in
the dark. And they say, Who sees us? Who knows us? Who is there that
sees our way and knows our way? Remember a part of David's penitential
prayer and confession and that stinging conviction for his sin
in Psalm 51, is in verse four, against thee, thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, O God. David came to that realization,
everything he had done had been done in the sight of God. And whether a thing be done in
secret and no other living being sees it, or whether it is done
at night and under the cover of darkness, yet the all-seeing
eye of God sees it and he knows it. Charles Bridges wrote, adored
be this all-seeing God, unquote. If God is not all-seeing and
all-knowing, then he is not omnipresent, nor is he omniscient, then he
is not God. If God does not see all and know
all, then he is not God. When these attributes of God
or ignored, or forgotten, or denied, or unknown, then sinners
sin without shame and without blushing. Now, I mentioned Romans
132. Let's go there for a moment and
deal with what Paul is writing. It reads this, who knowing the
judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy
of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in others or
in them that do them. Now, please, if you would, tolerate
a short intro onto this verse that we not go in blind. This is the concluding chart. This is the wrap-up. of Paul's
commentary and charge and indictment of paganism and of the pagan
world there in Romans 1, 18 unto the end of the chapter. that though they had a witness
in creation and in conscience of the presence and the power
of God, they still turned unto idols. And even though they knew
their sins deserved death, they became bold in their sin. They did that which practice
such things are worthy of death, under a sentence of death. Still, they committed them. They deliberately did the things
that were deserving of death. But not content with that, they
take pleasure in others joining them. They consent, they delight
when others about them join them in the same thing. That is, those
things just described in the previous verses here in Romans
chapter 1. As if a man were standing on
a ledge or a bridge, threatening to jump off and kill himself
and end his life. And the gathered crowd around
him observing and looking, crying, jump, jump, jump, go far, go
far. We've heard of that happening
in our lifetime. And that's how these people are. Come on, enjoy sin. Come on,
take it. It is fun. Not only do sinners
rush to damnation themselves, but they consent and congratulate
others doing what will bring them down to damnation also. Sinners approve of it and they
practice what will lead them and others to ruin. I was reading
John Murray on Romans 1 and verse 32, and he made three points,
and I'll share them with you rather quickly. Number one, the
most depraved of people, most depraved people in the world
can yet believe in eternal ruin, believe that that kind of life
will bring them to destruction. For example, many a sinner has
been heard to say, I've heard it, have you? I know I'm going
to hell. I've had men tell me, people
tell me, I know that I am going to hell. So even those in great
sin can have that knowledge. The second thing about it, their
belief in eternal ruin gives them absolutely no ability to
avoid damning sins apart from the grace of God. And number
three, such a belief in God's judgment does not give them a
hatred of sin or move them to repentance. not in and of itself. What's more, sinners are constantly
recruiting others to come and to join them. You should read
sometime the message of wisdom in Proverbs 1 and 10 through
16. People say, one says to another,
oh, come on, have a drink. One little drink won't hurt you.
Smoke a joint. It'll make you happy and high. Let's rob a store. Let's steal
a car. Let's beat up a homeless guy.
Let's break in a house. and take what they have, and
on and on they go, recruiting others to be part of their sin
and mischief. When Paul speaks in Ephesians
4 and verse 19 of being past feeling and of those whose conscience
is seared with a hot iron in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse
2, past feeling. Now, my Marshall's interlinear
has it, have ceased to care. One version that I read has it,
having become callous. Linsky renders it, having lost
compunction. Robertson says in his New Testament
word study that it is only a word used here, meaning to cease to
feel pain. So as they're being sinners before
God, they are, as John Eady put it, beyond shame or the sensation
of regret. for their sin. And may I tell
you, that is an awful situation to be in. And in this state,
they sin without shame, giving themselves up to all manner of
uncleanliness. And this excess of sin was prevalent
in the pagan world before the gospel came and rooted so much
of it out, and that it was embraced in that time without scruple
and without reserve. Generation, as we see it, we
are seeing it in our generation repeating it again. The open
blasphemy of God and of Jesus Christ and of Christianity that
is pouring forth out of the mouth, the print and the television
media in our day. The open blasphemy of the things
of God and of Christ, our Savior. Think of the great violence in
our society every day. in our city, murders, rapes,
child molestation, female teachers having sex with teenage students,
gay pride marches down Main Street, corrupt politicians, con man
preachers on every hand who lie and pervert the word of truth.
babies out of wedlock, Hollywood with their violence and their
nudity, without shame and without any blushing. For you see, when
the people turn away from God, when they have not ears to hear
or eyes to see, they run to every excess Our generation is an example
and an example of depravity. What did the prophet say under
them in the text that we read? Seek the old paths, he said to
the people, the old way. Seek the old way. Wherein is
the good way? And they said, we will not. The
prophet said to them, hearken to the word of God. They said,
we will not hearken. We will not listen to that old
Bible. It was written by men, and we
are not going to listen to it. It's outdated. It's old. It's
been a long time. It's not modern. And so you say
to them, seek the old way. And they say, we will not. We
like these things the way they are. Word of God, hear it! And they said, we will not hearken. Without shame, without a blush,
without any shame whatsoever. This is the attitude of so many
in every generation toward the things of God. Yes, but hell
has opened her mouth to receive such people as that. And this
needs to be told in our day. Instead of these little happy,
little snappy, little happy, feel-good sermons. Instead of
this cheerleading that preachers do, they need to preach the Word
of God, the sovereignty of God, the holiness of God, and the
wrath of God, that people might fear Him once again, if for adventure
God will bring it to pass.